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S
Scope: the length of rope or cable
paid out when mor anchoring.
Scuppers: 1, holes in the toe rail that
allow water to drain off the deck; 2,
drain cockpit through hull.
Seacock: a valve that shuts off an
underwater inlet or outlet passing
through the hull.
Seize: to bind two ropes together, or
a rope to a spar, with a light line.
Serve: to cover and protect a splice
or part of a rope with twine bound
tightly against the lay.
Serving mallet: tool with a grooved
head, used when serving a rope to
keep the twine at a constant and high
tension.
Set: 1, to hoist a sail; 2, the way in
which the sails fit; 3, the direction of
tidal current or steam.
Shackle:
a
metal
removable bolt across the end; of
various shapes: D, U.
Sheave: a grooved wheel in a block
or spar for a rope to run on.
Sheet: the rope attached to the clew
of a sail or to the boom, enabling it to
be controlled or trimmed.
Shrouds: ropes or wires, usually in
pairs, led from the mast to the chain
plates at deck level to prevent the
mast falling sideways; part of the
standing rigging.
Sloop: a single-masted sailing boat
with a mainsail and one head sail.
Spar: a general term for any wooden
or metal pole, e.g., mast or boom,
used to carry or give shape to sails.
Spindrift: spray blown along the
surface of the sea.
Spinnaker: a large, light, balloon
shaped sail set when reaching or
running.
Splice: to join ropes or wire by
unlaying the strands and interweaving
them.
Split pin: see cotter pin.
Spreaders: horizontal struts attached
to the mast, which extends to the
5. GLOSSARY OF SAILING TERMS
shrouds and help to support the mast.
Stall: a sail stalls when the airflow
over it breaks up, causing the boat to
lose way.
Stanchion: upright metal post bolted
to the deck to support guardrails or
lifelines.
Standing part: the part of a line not
used when making a knot; the part of
a rope that is made fast, or around
which the knot is tied.
Standing rigging: the shrouds and
stays that are permanently set up and
support the mast.
Starboard: right-hand side of a boat
looking forward (opp. of port).
Starboard tack: a boat is the
starboard tack when the wind strikes
the starboard side first and the boom
is out to the port.
Stay: wire or rope which supports the
mast in a fore and aft direction; part
link
with
a
of the standing rigging.
Steerage way: a boat has steerage
way when it has sufficient speed to
allow it to be steered, or to answer
the helm.
Stem: the timer at the bow, from the
keel upward, to which the planking is
attached.
Sternway: the backward, stern-first
movement of a boat.
Stringer: a fore and aft member,
fitted to strengthen the frames.
T
Tack: 1, the lower forward corner of a
sail; 2, to turn the boat through the
wind so that it blows on the opposite
sides of the sails.
Tacking: working to windward by
sailing
courses so that the wind is first on
one side of the boat, then on the
other.
Tack pennant: a length of wire with
an eye in each end, used to raise the
tack of a headsail some distance off
the deck.
Tackle:
comprising of rope and blocks that is
close-hauled
on
alternate
a
purchase
system
15
used to gain mechanical advantage.
Tang: a strong metal fitting by which
standing rigging is attached to the
mast or other spar.
Tender of dinghy: a small boat used
to ferry stores and people to a yacht.
Terminal fitting: fitting at the end of
a wire rope by which a shroud or stay
can be attached to the mast, a tang
or a rigging screw/ turnbuckle.
Tide: the vertical rise and fall of the
oceans caused by the gravitational
attraction of the moon.
Toe rail: a low strip of metal or
molding running around the edge of
the deck.
Topping lift: a line runs from the
masthead to a spar, normally the
boom, which is used to raise it.
Topsides: the part of a boat's hull
that is above the waterline.
Track:
1, the course a boat has made good;
2, a fitting on the mast or boom into
which the slides on a sail fit; 3, a
fitting along which a traveler runs,
used to alter the angle of the sheets.
Transit: two fixed objects are in
transit when seen in line; two transit
give position fix.
Traveler: 1, a ring or hoop that can
be hauled along a spar; 2, a fitting
that slides in a track and is used to
alter the angle of the sheets.
Trim: 1, to adjust the angle of the
sails, by means of sheets, so that
they work most efficiently; 2, to adjust
the boat's load, and thus the fore and
aft angle at which it floats.
True wind: the direction and speed
of the wind felt when stationary, at
anchor or on land.
Turnbuckle: see Rigging screw.
U
Under way: a boat is under way
when it is not made fast to shore, at
anchor or aground.
Up-haul:
a
line
used
something
vertically,
spinnaker pole.
to
raise
e.g.,
the
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